De Colo, CSKA are alone in first after downing Maccabi

CSKA Moscow seized sole possession of first place with both hands on Friday by beating Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv 101-86 at Megasport Arena in the Russian capital. CSKA is the first Turkish Airlines EuroLeague team to reach double-digit victories, at 10-2, and is alone at the top for the second time this season. Maccabi fell to 7-5 in a pack of teams below the leaders. A 28-14 second-quarter blast in which Sergio Rodriguez and Nando De Colo had an assist-making contest between them sent CSKA up 15 points at the break. Maccabi reeled it back to single digits early in the fourth quarter, and down to 90-84 going into the last minute, but De Colo's mid-range jumper with 35 seconds left made sure of CSKA's victory. De Colo paced the winners with 26 points and 6 assists. Sergio Rodriguez followed with a double-double of 15 points and 11 assists. Cory Higgins added 17 points, Kyle Hines and Semen Antonov 14 each to the CSKA cause. Maccabi's Norris Cole had 24 points, 7 assists and 4 steals, while DeShaun Thomas added 14 points, Jake Cohen 12 and Deandre Kane 10 for the visitors.

Thomas inside and Higgins from deep got their teams on the board first. Teenager Yovel Zoosman's first-ever EuroLeague points came on a layup before Jonah Bolden put Maccabi ahead from deep. A Hines layup and an exchange of free throws left a tie that De Colo broke at 11-9 with a back-door basket. Kane combined free throws with a steal and basket that Hines answered with a finger roll and De Colo with a jumper and a put-back scoop shot at 17-13. Alex Tyus and Cole kept Maccabi close until Cohen and De Colo traded free throws for a 21-20 score after 10 minutes. Cohen's inside basket was answered from downtown by both Rodriguez and De Colo, making it 27-22. Free throws by Rodriguez and Will Clyburn boosted the lead until De Colo's next shot, on a great assist by Rodriguez, sent the difference into double digits. De Colo assisted Pavel Korobkov before Rodriguez set up the first of a pair of baskets by Higgins as CSKA ran away to 40-27. Higgins was back with a three-pointer and soon a string of perfect free throws had CSKA up 49-34 at the break.

Antonov and Kane traded buckets before Higgins from inside and Clyburn from downtown upped the difference to 56-38. Cole tried to help the visitors with 5 points and an assist on Kane's back-door dunk. But Maccabi left Antonov open for back-to-back corner threes and the highest lead yet, 61-42. Thomas and Zoosman, on a great pass from Cole, got the visitors closer and Tyus finished a break at 65-50. Hines with free throws did the honors for the first 20-point lead, 70-50. Thomas answered from deep, then both Cole and Jackson stole and scored. But another steal was taken back by Nikita Kurbanov who dunked on the third-quarter buzzer to make it 72-57. Thomas, Cole with his fourth steal in a few minutes, and Cohen opened the fourth quarter by lowering the difference to single digits, 72-63. Rodriguez's three-pointer was answered by Cole, but De Colo struck next from the arc at 78-65. Jackson stepped up with a triple for Maccabi, but Kurbanov did the same. Cole fed Cohen twice and Bolden did the same for Kane to suddenly make it a seven-point difference, 81-74, as close as Maccabi had been in more than 20 minutes. Rodriguez stepped out of a CSKA timeout and hammered a triple, then Antonov did the same to make it 87-74 with 3:20 left. Cole rifled in another three, but Hines answered with a jump-hook. Bolden and Cole hit 5 of 6 free throws to make it 90-84 going into the final minute, but De Colo's jumper with 35 second left and 3 free throws after that were more than enough to leave CSKA alone in first place.

Head Coaches

ITOUDIS, DIMITRIS

CSKA Moscow

"I would say that we played how we wanted to play for maybe 25 minutes or something like that. It was obvious after that point that the majority of our players lost concentration and we just started turning the ball over. With all respect to Maccabi – they have quality and tried to get back in the game – but we turned over the ball with many unforced errors, and that was a big issue. That's something we have to care about because this is a marathon. Of course, congratulations for the win. Of course, congratulations for the continuation we showed. But we can't give such gifts, although these are Christmas days and maybe we were focused on that, I don't know. We got into trouble because we turned over the ball too easy, and that's something we have to work on. There were also a lot of good things in the game. We cannot forget that we got up plus 20 with good effort, good ball movement and we defended even better. But after that, as I said, the lack of concentration. We need to play 40 minutes, not 25."

SPAHIJA, NEVEN

Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv

"Congrats to CSKA's team for this win. The better team won the game. We tried but right now they are better than us, and I think the second quarter was the key. In the first couple minutes of that quarter, we were already in the bonus. The scored so many shots from the free throw line, and at the other end, we missed all our shots. If you want to play against CSKA at this level, you have to make some shots, not miss almost 10 free throws and 12 threes. They are so good and experienced that they punish you."

Players

HIGGINS, CORY

CSKA Moscow

"Overall we had a pretty good game. We made it a little more difficult on ourselves than it had to be. But overall for the majority of the game we were focussed and we came out with a victory. We had a lot of easy turnovers, which led to their easy baskets, which led to the game being a lot closer than it needed to be."

RODRIGUEZ, SERGIO

CSKA Moscow

"We came ready for a tough game. They were playing really well and we set a tough game from the beginning, working on the way we wanted to start. It was a great win for us. We knew they are a talented team, they play with lot of energy and we had to stop them. At some point we played great defense, we made some turnovers, yes, but that's the way it is; sometimes they force those turnovers. But in the end we got the win and we are happy. A win is a win. Today I had to make more fouls than usual. But I am feeling really comfortable on the court. Day by day I am feeling better with my teammates, with the coach, with everybody. This is the way. We know it's a long way ahead. We have to play so many big games in the future, but we have to go step by step and be ready every day."

COLE, NORRIS

Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv

"It's not the result we wanted. We kind of dug ourselves into a hole early, and when you get down by that much, everything has to go perfect in order to come back. Tonight, we weren't able to make the comeback, but I'm happy with the fight that we shoed. We never gave up; we kept fighting. But you have to give CSKA credit."

COHEN, JAKE

Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv

"We made a lot of mistakes to get down like we did. I'm proud of the guys, they fought back. But we need to learn from our mistakes, see what put ourselves in that situation, and get better from that."